Sanderson, Paczewski, Barbin match par at Doylestown to share medalist honors in U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier

    Two of Pennsylvania’s top returning scholastic players, reigning PIAA Class AAA champion Calen Sanderson, a senior at Holy Ghost Prep, and three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier Logan Paczewski, a senior at Dallas, will be representing the Keystone State in next month’s U.S. Junior Amateur at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, N.C.

   Sanderson and Paczewski shared medalist honors in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered local qualifier on a brutally hot Wednesday at Doylestown Country Club with Evan Barbin of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., each landing on even-par 72.

   A fourth qualifier, Solanco junior Logan Wagner, survived a playoff with recent Shady Side Academy graduate Adam Lauer, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier, after each signed for a 1-over 73.

   Got a chance to watch Sanderson, playing out of Jericho National Golf Club, battle it out with Downingtown West’s Nick Gross in the final round of the District One Class AAA Championship at Turtle Creek Golf Course last fall.

   The 17-year-old Sanderson came up short at the Turtle, finishing two shots behind Gross in second place, but Sanderson, who plans to join the Notre Dame program at the end of the summer of 2022, came back a couple of weeks later to claim the state crown. I saw an explosive player, a guy with a ton of power and potential.

   Playing with a broken left index finger Wednesday, Sanderson made four birdies in the last 11 holes over the 6,591-yard, par-72 Doylestown layout to get it in at even-par. He was coming off a solid showing in the Pennsylvania Junior Boys’ Championship, which wrapped up Tuesday, as he finished in a tie for eighth place at Hershey Country Club’s East Course.

   Sanderson made a birdie at the short, 298-yard, par-4 eighth hole and at the 367-yard, par-4 12^th hole. He used his length to birdie a couple of par-5s on his way to the clubhouse, the 499-yard 14^th hole and the 519-yard finishing hole.

   “My finger was in a little bit of pain,” Sanderson told the GAP website. “It took a while to get used to it and the opening holes are hard here. I made a birdie on eight and kind of grinded it out on the back nine. And made birdie on 18 when I needed it. I figured even (par) would be a playoff or maybe make it.”

   The 18-year-old Paczewski, playing out of Huntsville Golf Club, had surgery on his right elbow just about a year ago. Like Sanderson, he started slowly and was 4-over after five holes. But Paczewski, who plans to join the program at Rutgers later in the summer of 2022, got it going on the back nine.

   Paczewski ripped a 7-iron from 185 yards away at the par-5 14^th hole to eight feet and made the eagle putt. He followed that up by lifting a sand wedge from 125 yards away at the 430-yard, par-4 15^th to 15 feet and rolled in a tough, right-to-left slider for birdie.

   Paczewski was coming off a tie for 20^th place in the state Junior Boys at Hershey earlier in the week.

   The 17-year-old Barbin started on the 10^th hole and looked like he might take medalist honors alone when he birdied the eighth hole, but a bogey at the ninth dropped him back to even-par.

   Barbin, playing out of Loch Nairn Golf Club, had joined Sanderson in the group that finished in a tie for eighth in the Pennsylvania Junior Boys, so it looks like Hershey’s East Course was the perfect preparation for the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier.

   It couldn’t have hurt Barbin that big brother Zach was on the bag for the qualifier. Zach Barbin, a senior at Liberty, won a pair of GAP’s major championships a year ago, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Lancaster Country Club and the Joseph H. Patterson Cup at The 1912 Club. Another Barbin brother, Austin, a junior at Maryland, was a U.S. Junior Amateur qualifier in 2016 and again in 2019 when he was GAP’s  Junior Player of the Year.

   The 16-year-old Wagner, playing out of Meadia Heights Golf Club, made a par on the first hole of the playoff, Doylestown’s 365-yard, par-4 10^th hole, to beat out Lauer for the fourth and final assured ticket to the Country Club of North Carolina. Lauer was the first alternate, which gives him a glimmer of hope.

   The second alternate was Peyton Mussina of Muncy, who bested La Salle senior Darren Nolan and Teddy Seitz of Washington, D.C. in a playoff after all three landed on 2-over 74. Mussina, a recent Montoursville graduate, is the son of former Major League Baseball star pitcher Mike Mussina.